Unitedstatesmilitarytelegraph.org Website Review

Civil war telegraph and the United States Military Telegraph (USMT): Sergeant Mike Callahan. (trained in Artillery, Infantry and Signal Corps and USMT) operates the vintage Tillotson telegraph key and sounder connected to another vintage Camelback key located in a barn a City, Indiana. While Sergeant Mike is a military operator, Ted Wagner operates as a civilian at higher pay. Operating in the civilian station at the distant end are Liz, Susan and Christine. They represent the many female operators who replaced the men on the telegraph key at civilian stations during the war. Some women even ran United States Military Telegraph (Civil War) stations at large fixed headquarters such as Saint Louis. The USMT and the Signal Corps were, at the upper echelon's, often in bitter dispute over control of the communications during the war. As with all Armies, at the lower operational level the men and women of the USMT and the Signal Corps most often got along and co-operated well. It is a credit to both services that the individuals who performed the work did so under very adverse military and political pressures. Although the members of the USMT were often paid much more than the members of the Signal Corps (and yet considered themselves underpaid and even struck for higher wages) , they were never considered members of the military organization and as such were denied the benefits of a pension and the considerable political power at the local at home level. Conversely, the members of the Signal Corps were often derided by the political powers running the USMT as being inferior in both ability and actual function. In truth, the functions were very often different. The USMT handled logistical and strategic communications at the Grand Tactical and Strategic level. The Signal Corps operated at the Tactical and Grand Tactical level with the latter very evident at Fredricksburg and Chancellorsville. The former was obvious at at Gettysburg, to name but one instance. It was when claim was made to blend the functions that the conflicts flared up. In the end, each service bled and died and